Core C consists of the director as well as one technician who will provide molecular and cellular biology support for each of the three projects in this program project proposal. This core will provide three major functions which will be to assist each ofthe laboratories in experiments designed to; 1) manipulate gene expression within vascular smooth muscle cells in vitro and in vivo; 2) produce and manipulate recombinant proteins to be applied to vessels or cells; and 3) to isolate ceils from wild-type or knockout mutant animals and to culture them in two-dimensional or three-dimensional extracellular environments. The core director has considerable experience in the creation of recombinant viral vectors for gene delivery into vascular cells as well as siRNA technology to suppress gene expression in primary vascular cells including vascular smooth muscle cells, pericytes and endothelial cells. In addition, the core director has extensive experience in the culture and manipulation of primary vascular cells in either twodimensional or three-dimensional culture. This core will also provide an important function to facilitate each investigator to advance gene expression technologies within microvessels to be able to manipulate microcirculatory function. The director will participate in all scientific functions related to the proposal to be able to properly serve the needs of each project and to facilitate the molecular aspects of each research direction. This core will provide services that are essential for the overall function and scientific integration of the Program Project Grant. All projects will rely on the services provided by this core in each of the three main areas of focus described above.